1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an RF (Radio Frequency) block of a mobile communication base station, and more particularly, an RF block of a mobile communication base station in which separated modules therein is implemented into one module, in which an antenna diagnosis function is performed by using a modem (control module) embedded therein, and in which implementation of a filter is simplified.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a typical RF block of a mobile communication base station, as shown in FIG. 1, includes a first digital unit (DU) 10 for modulating data inputted thereto by a code division multiple access (CDMA) scheme to generate the modulated data, a up-converter 20 for receiving an intermediate frequency (IF) signal from the first DU 10 to up-convert in frequency the received IF signal into an Ultra High Frequency (hereinafter, referred to as xe2x80x9cUHFxe2x80x9d) signal, and then, to generate the up-converted signal, a first split section 30 for distributing a power level of the up-converted signal received from the UP converter 20, a high power amplifier (hereinafter, referred to as xe2x80x9cHPAxe2x80x9d) 40 for amplifying the distributed signal received from the first split section 30 to generate the amplified signal, a transmitting (Tx) bandpass filter 50 for filtering the amplified signal received from the high power amplifier (HPA) 40 to apply the filtered signal to an antenna, a receiving (Rx) bandpass filter 60 for filtering an electrical signal received from the antenna to generate a filtered signal, and then, to generate the filtered signal, a low noise amplifier (LNA) 70 for amplifying the filtered signal received from the receiving (Rx) bandpass filter 60 to generate the amplified signal, a second split section 80 for distributing a power level of the amplified signal received from the low noise amplifier (LNA) 70, a down-converter 90 for receiving a UHF signal from the second split section 80 to down-convert in frequency the received UHF signal into an IF signal, and then, to generate the down-converted signal, and a second digital unit (DU) 100 for demodulating data inputted thereto from the down-converter 90 by a code division multiple access (CDMA) scheme to generate the demodulated data.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional RF block in the base station of a mobile communication system, there have arisen several problems in that each module is separated from each other so that many spaces is required in view of construction, that a transmitting gain controlled function is implemented limitedly to the UP converter 20 so that it is not easy to control a radius of a cell and it is also difficult to implement a diagnosis function.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an RF block of a mobile communication base station in which each of the separated modules therein is implemented into one module so that a degree of utility of a space is improved, and therefore, the number of components and a unit price is reduced thereby curtailing a cost when configuring a system, and in which a variable attenuator can vary an output level of the system so that a variable range thereof is wider than that implemented by a FCB circuit of a up-converter, and a control/alarm signal is processed by a modem so that it is easy to monitor the mobile communication base station upon operation thereof.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an RF block of a mobile communication base station including a up-converter adapted to receive an intermediate frequency (IF) signal to up-convert in frequency the received IF signal into a UHF signal, and then, to generate the up-converted signal, a down-converter adapted to receive the UHF signal to down-convert in frequency the received UHF signal into the IF signal, and then, to generate the down-converted signal, and a main control section adapted to perform an overall control function of the mobile communication base station, comprising:
a forward link section adapted to generate a DC power supply required for driving each unit in the mobile communication base station, and being adapted to receive the UHF signal from the up-converter to amplify the received UHF signal and then to generate the amplified UHF signal;
a first backward link section adapted to receive the UHF signal to low noise-amplify the received UHF signal for application to the down-converter;
a second backward link section adapted to receive the UHF signal to low noise-amplify the received UHF signal, and then convert the low noise-amplified signal into an IF signal for application to the down-converter, and being adapted to be supplied with a power supply to generate a signal associated with whether or not a normal operation is performed due to the supplied power supply;
a triplexer adapted to receive the UHF signal from the forward link section to filter the received signal, and then, generate the filtered signal, being adapted to be supplied with a signal received from a receiving antenna to filter the supplied signal for application to the first and second backward link sections, and being adapted to couple a power signal from a transmitting antenna with the UHF signal received from the forward link section to generate the coupled transmitting antenna power diagnosis signal;
a first directional coupler adapted to transmit an output signal from the triplexer through the transmitting antenna, while being adapted to couple the output signal from the triplexer with a signal reflected by the receiving antenna and returning therefrom to generate the coupled signal;
a second directional coupler 700 adapted to apply a signal received from the receiving antenna to the triplexer, while being adapted to couple the received signal from the receiving antenna with an output signal from the first directional coupler to generate the coupled signal;
a one-to-one switch adapted to connect the first directional coupler with the second directional coupler by a one-to-one corresponding relation, and being adapted to receive a signal outputted from the first directional coupler to generate the received signal as a signal;
a two-to-one switch adapted to connect the first directional coupler and the second directional coupler 700 with the VSWR sensor by a two-to-one corresponding relation, and being adapted to receive signals outputted from the first directional coupler and the second directional coupler to generate the received signals as a signal;
a voltage standing wave ratio (xe2x80x9cVSWRxe2x80x9d) sensor adapted to be supplied with the signals outputted from the first directional coupler and the second directional coupler through the two-to-one switch to diagnose a status of the antenna, and then, to generate data corresponding to the diagnosis of the antenna status;
a power supply sensor adapted to sense a power supply signal inputted thereto from the triplexer to generate data corresponding to the sensing of the power supply signal, while being adapted to receive a power supply sensing control signal according to the generation of the data for application to the triplexer; and
a control module adapted to supply the forward link section and the first and second backward link sections with a plurality of control signals to adjust the transmitting power level of the base station, being adapted to receive an antenna diagnosis signal from the VSWR sensor to diagnose the status of the antenna, and being adapted to receive the power supply signal from the power supply sensor to monitor the power supply of the antenna.